Abstract
Most Americans want to make decisions about their terminal care, and discussions between patients, families and physicians about death and terminal illness are much more open than they were 10 years ago. Discussions of ethical dilemmas about life-sustaining treatment and about terminal care are frequent in medical journals and in the lay press. Most hospitals have medical staff policies about ‘do not resuscitate’ orders, and many hospitals have established ethics committees to facilitate discussions and decision making.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bedell, S. E., Pelle, D., Maher, P. L. and Cleary, P. (1986) Do not resuscitate orders for critically ill patients in the hospital. J. Am. Med. Assoc., 256, 233–237
Daniels, N. (1986) Why saying no to patients in the United States is so hard. New Engl. J. Med., 314, 1380–1383
Fraser, I. (1985) Medicare reimbursement for hospice care: ethical and policy implications of cost-containment strategies. J. Health Politics, Policy and Law, 10, 565–578
Jonsen, A. R. (1983) A concord in medical ethics. Ann. Intern. Med., 99, 261–265
Kane, R. L., Wales, J., Bernstein, L., Leibowitz, A. and Kaplan, S. (1984) A randomized controlled trial of hospice care. Lancet, i, 890–94
Kane, R. L., Bernstein, L., Wales, J. and Rothenberg, R. (1985) Hospice effectiveness in controlling pain. J. Am. Med. Assoc., 253, 2683–2686
Kapp, M. and Lo, B. Legal perceptions and medical decision making. Milbank Memorial Quarterly, in press
Lo, B., Saika, G., Strull, W., Thomas, E. and Showstack, J. (1985) Do not resuscitate decisions: a prospective study at three teaching hospitals. Arch. Intern. Med., 145, 1115–1117
Lo, B., McLeod, G. and Saika, G. (1986) Patient attitudes towards discussing life-sustaining treatment. Arch. Intern. Med., 146, 1613–1615
President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research (1983) Deciding to Forego Life-sustaining Treatment, US Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Scitovsky, A. A. and Capron, A. M. (1986) Medical care at the end of life: The interaction of economics and ethics. Ann. Rev. Public Health, 7, 59–75
Society for the Right to Die, New York (1987) Handbook of Living Will Laws (1987 edition), Handbook of Living Will Laws: 1981–1984; Fact Sheets on Major Right to Die Decisions 1976–1987
Wanzer, S. H., Adelstein, S. J., Cranford, R. E. et al. (1984) The physician’s responsibility towards hopelessly ill patients. New Engl. J. Med., 310, 955–959
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1988 The Editor and the Contributors
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lo, B., Rouse, F. (1988). Dying with Dignity: A United States View. In: Stoll, B.A. (eds) Cost Versus Benefit in Cancer Care. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09296-3_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09296-3_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-09298-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-09296-3
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)